Ro's Book
The Second Year
Well you survived your first birthday. All the family came and you were amused by everyone. You took your first walk across the lving room on your birthday. You are quickly learning the walking process. Shortly after your birthday, Daddy had to endure going to the doctor with you to get your one year shots. You were excellent and took it much better than I did. This is a difficult time for your parents because you either wake up at midnight ready to play or at best you are getting up by 5 a.m. You never sleep late and at this point once you are awake, you are makin sure that we are awake. You talk, yell, and cry or do whatever it takes to get us down to your room. You have pretty well figured out that we have not figured out how to resist any demand you make. You are such a smiley happy boy that these things are very trivial and we are having the time of our lives. Here's to the terrible twos. I love you! (Entry of May 29, 2003)
Well, two weeks into your second year and you are now growing at hyper speed. You've gone from your first walk to becoming a full-time walking monster. Daddy was very excited this week because I threw a ball, told you to go get it and bring it back and you did. The best thing right now is that you and I just have a great time together. Wherever I go, you go. As I am writing this, you have walked into my office and have demanded a few minutes of lap time. As you chew on my cell phone and try to make a call, Daddy has to type with one finger. You look up, you smile, I melt. As I laugh at what I have written, you dip my cell phone in my coffee. Then you try to type for me. I laugh again. I try to put you down on the floor. You give me that fake baby cry to inform me that this move has not met your approval. Back you come.Next week is your second Dad's Day 5k. We will do the 1k. I am thinking of entering the Dad & Child look-a-like contest even though I am not eligible to win. I mostly just want to show you off. Life is great! (Entry of June7, 2003)xc ZZc c/ (This is Ro typing)
This may be the longest I've taken off from my journal. I am cleaning my work schedule up so you and I can have a wonderful summer together. I hope this will be the way of our lives from now on. I hope to take long trips and just play every summer with you. You have become a walking champ! There is nothing you like better than to grab Daddy or Mommy's finger and pull us along for a walk in the neighborhood. You always give us that fake little cry at the end of the walk that tells us we have displeased his lordship and that you will inform us when you are ready to quit the walk. You are so funny sometimes. You have already learned to ignore us when it is convenient. We call, "Ro, ro, yoohoo and any other number of things" and you don't even look up. However all we have to do is start the words to your favorite book "While you were sleeping" and you are headed our way. It is evident that you see us merely as purveyors of entertainment for you and would toss us aside quickly should a better offer come along. But son I am way ahead of you! I promise you will never get better offers than the ones I give! I love you my son. Here's to a fun summer! (Entry of June 24, 2003)
These past few weeks have been time for many firsts. You clapped your hands for the first time and more importantly you took the remote to the VCR and started a Baby Einstein tape on your own when Daddy wasn't even in the room. You are now a man son. Manhood is measured in many ways by your affinity for and control of the remote control. A man who does not control his remote control does not control his life. However, we will soon need to get you your own TV, BECAUSE AS A MAN, YOU WILL TAKE CONTROL OF MINE! You and I enjoy watering the plants in the back yard. Playing in the water from the hose is great fun, plus it gives you the opportunity to take every small piece of anything off the ground and put it in your mouth! Daddy has to find many creative words other than saying no, to stop you. Life is going to be filled with negative things. I try to keep the word no out of our vocabulary as much as I can. We are still pretty much attached at the hip. You like to do everything with me. You main displeasure in life is when I set you down or walk away from you. I am the luckiest daddy in the world! I love you my son. (entry of July 15, 2003)
You, mommy and I took our first real vacation together this past week. We went to Galveston to spend a week at the ocean. We had the best of times together. You particularly enjoyed the elevator there. You loved standing in front of the door waiting for it to open. You weren't too sure about the ocean, but by next year you should be ready to go. You have only been walking for two months so just staying upright is your main focus. The only drawback to the trip was we got a hotel where the beds were small and bad. So as is my lot in life, you got to sleep with mom while I slept on the couch. Another example of no longer being the alpha dog in my household. You did not like the five hour drive to and from as you had to be strapped in your baby seat. Your daddy had it so much better when he was your age, because there were no laws requiring baby seats and dady loved laying the back seat playing many great imagination games. But you got 24/7 of momy and daddy and believe it or not you became more spoiled than ever before. But you are so cute! How can we not spoil you. Well anyway you and daddy are back at work and Daddy must do some. I love you. (entry of July 29, 2003)
Every day is an adventure with you as I exult in the new things you learn each day. I love it when you play underneath the desk and print table while I work. Even though all you toys are in other rooms, you would rather play with my old running trophies and hang out with me. I am spending more time than ever with you now. The shortness of life was facing your daddy this week. Your cousin Brian was killed in a car wreck. 42 years ago I held him in my arms and played with him much like I do with you. That baby is now gone and I only have the memories. I hope I never take my life with you for granted. Any way last week you had a red letter day. In the same day, you stood up on the coffee table, ran into the street and dialed 911. Is this what I have to look forward to? Love and kisses, Daddy. (Entry of August 21, 2003)
Pretty exciting stuff this month. You should be talking soon as you now can grab my finger and take me to things you want to do. I can ask you questions and you know what I am saying to you. Thank goodness you are not growing so fast that you still want to lay and my arms three or four times a day while we cuddle and play little piggy games with your toes. We laugh and chase each other about the house and life is really good. There still is no thrill greater than when you want climb up on my lap and be with me. I can't get enough of you. You are my buddy! Love, Daddy (Entry of September 24, 2003)
Another month has passed. You are now 17 months old. You've started wearing shoes. Daddy was pretty lazy up until now. I just let you go barefoot wherever you went because it was a hassle to get shoes on you and keep them on you. However, you are now a walking fool. You still look down at your shoes and wonder why they are on you. So far you are showing great interest in working in my business. I figure boredom is a good part of it. You are just happy to have something to do. Mommy and Daddy are both trying their best to get you to say Mommy or Daddy first. Mommy cheats because she is willing for you to say mama. I argue that you can say that with your babbling. It is not the real thing. It must be Mommy or Daddy. You'll probably say moo juice or Bob kitties long before you say either one. You become more spoiled each day as it is hard to resist your charms and those piercing blue eyes! I love you my son! (Entry of October 20, 2003)
The urge to write about our life together is always on my mind. I think about writing passages every day. But, I fear I will be writing the same thing but with different words. I do this because it is important to me that you will always know that no matter what happens to you and where you go, you had a father that loved you deeply. With love son, nothing else really matters. Always focus your energies on the emotional feeling things of life and all the material, mental, and spirtiual will follow. Live with your heart, not your mind. Your real knowing and conscience comes from your heart. Now I realize as write this to you at age 17 months, it does not mean much to you. I guess I write it mostly to remind myself. If I can live from my heart, maybe you will too and without having to think about it. You are my treasure! Love Daddy. (Entry of November 4, 2003)
As Daddy works on next year's events, you always remind me that today is the most important day of our lives. You could care less about my Texas Half or my Texas Marathon. Your focus is on sitting on my lap playing with stuff on my desk or you and I chasing each other around the house. Living life with a child's focus is probably the purest way of living. Although I do need to work on paying our bills, often by focusing on today and not tomorrow, will make all those tomorrows successful. You discovered raw eggs this week, as you found five different places in the house to watch the egg ooze out of the shell. As Daddy was sitting on the couch you proudly walked up to show me what an empty egg shell looked like. You are now getting to the age that Daddy must try to put in some restrictions in your life just to keep you safe. It is difficult for Daddy to say no to you, but once you know I mean it you have been very cooperative. As always the light of my life. I love you! (Entry of November 24, 2003)
It is time for Christmas again. Daddy has over 30 Santa Clauses, 20 angels, 20 showmen, tons of lights and the biggest yeard display in the neighborhood. It took me five days of work to get it all up. My fear was that you were going to want to play with all the Christmas stuff and who knows what was going to happen to it. But once again, Daddy is way off in predicting any future event. You have not even touched any of the displays. You mostly love the lights and the empty boxes. I keep on telling all our relatives not to load you down with tons of plastic Christmas toys as you seem to like simple things the most. Give you an empty gallon jug of milk and you are good for hours. But your mother and Aunt Gwen and Grandma Ruth have made getting your Christmas present the most major of productions. They call each other all the time to find the best price of the best gift at the closest location. My fear is whatever they get is going to be 20 feet by 20 feet and completely fill up one room in the house for something you will lose interest in about six months from now. My son, please do this for me remember Christmas is not about gifts, it is about family and fellowship. It is cold outside. The trees have lost their leaves. The daylight is short. We put up the colored lights and gather together to celebrate life and enjoy those in our lives. "Things" will never satisfy you. Your value should be placed in the love of your friends, coworkers and family. Nothing else really matters. Happy Holidays my son. I love you! (Entry of December 5, 2004)
Well the month of your second Christmas flew by. You really didn't show that much interest in the festivities, but I think that is normal for an 18 month old child. But then again since I have never been around a child before, I have no idea what is normal. The last two weeks you Mommy and I got really bad colds and we have spent the time from December 22 through January 5 with horible coughs and none of us getting much sleep. You seem to deal with sickness much than I. Daddy is the baby at times like this. We have prepared a special toy room for you in the front of the house. This has met your approval and you spend many hours in there. Sometime next year, we will think about getting you part time into a school. You don't get much time with kids your age. Happy 2004 my son. I hope it will be better than 2003 and that we will welcome a little sister into the familt. We don't know yet, but we are trying. You need someone to play with. (Entry of January 3, 2004)
Son you have outdone yourself this month. You managed to follow up the cold that lasted forever with a serious virus that caused a temperature, vomiting and diarhea. I have been house bound with you for the last month as you have been too sick to leave the house. But when it was over, it was over! The next day you were like a new person. Through it all you always maintained that smile that always melts me. We had more one on one time and bonded even more. I am already dreading the day when you will start pulling away from me on the road to independence. You will probably flee home as soon as you can. Each day with you is a complete joy! I love you my son! (Entry of January 22, 2004)
You are such a revelation to me! My feelings for you become more intensive as time goes by. You and I hang out 24/7 and live in a perfect world. We are never rushed. We always try to laugh and play. And mostly we just have a good time together. Each night when you are ready to go to sleep, you crawl in my lap and we cuddle and play until we are both snoring. When our eyes meet we both break out in smiles! My life has never been better than this. Through you I now understand my own relationship with my father and in turn I understand more about me. You still are not talking, but we really have no need for talk. It is this time of life that you and I buddy just get to hang with one another. Life is good and simple! I love you. (Entry of February 29, 2004)
Well the second chapter of my book is about to end. In three weeks you will be two. The greatest two years in my life. The past two years have been very chaotic and life has had its struggles, but it has been so much fun sharing your life with me. I will always treasure these days. It won't be too much longer and you will start taking off on your own life journey. I will never have such quality time with you again. In year two this is what really mattered: You insisted on jumping in my lap from some high point (be it my desk, the couch, or any place you could crawl up on) at least 20 times a day. A day was not completed until you rode on my shoulders and we raced around the house. Every day you and I cuddled together and I sang to you. (You always smile when I sing. I can't tell whether you like it or you are convinced I am just a silly fool and deserve to be laughed at) Your second year has been the constant search for "moo juices" You drink more milk than I thought possible. You have the strongest grip humanly possible. Once you have grabbed my finger, I have no choice but to follow you to where you want me to go. (Mostly outside) Peek-a-boo was our main game. It made you very happy. You sat on the couch with me and watched a Ranger's baseball game together. Each night before going to sleep, it was me you insisted on cuddling with. I have read the same three books to you 1,000 times each. You are still good for another 1,000. It's been real my buddy! Thanks for the ride! I love you. (Entry of April 26, 2004)
Well, another chapter in our life journey together ends today. It was two years ago today on a rainy day, Daddy welcomed you into the world at this exact time. I was the first to hold you and kiss you. Your mother has not forgiven me for that yet. That night I slept on a horrible chair in the hospital room with Mommy so I could be there every time they brought you in. Tonight everyone comes by to celebrate your birthday. You won't be my "baby" much longer. You will always be my love. Thank you for two great, happy years. Tomorrow we begin chapter three. I can hardly wait. Happy Birthday my son! I love you. (Entry of May 17, 2004)